1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pharmaceutic material as well as a functional diet for alleviating diabetic diseases, particularly preventing and curing diabetes, which contains phytic acid or its salt or salts as an effective component.
2. Statement of the Prior Art
Sugar metabolic disease, diabetes is a disease that is induced by improper meals and obesity by way of genetic dispositions and, upon lingering, is complicated by vascular disorders or other diseases.
The treatments for such diseases are carried out with a view to normalizing sugar metabolism, suppressing the progress thereof and preventing complications, esp., vascular complications. In real treatments, (1) appropriate dietary cures, (2) the administration of insulin and orally administrable diabetic medicines and (3) the administration of complication remedies are applied in combination.
On the other hand, phytic acids widely appear in plants as calcium and magnesium salts, sometimes a potassium salt. For instance, rice bran contains as high as 9.5 to 14.5 % of phytic acid, and provides a starting material for commercial phytic acid and myoinositol deriving therefrom.
Phytic acid and its salt have been used in wide applications; in pharmaceutical applications, calcium phytate has been used as a calcium augmentor, rice bran itself and sodium phytate as a preventive for calcium calculuses, and potassium phytate for the treatment of hyper-calcemia and hyper-calciurea of sarcoidosis patients. They have also been utilized in various other fields as fermentative aids for brewing sake and wine, metal removers making use of the chelating action of phytic acid, antioxidants in the presence of iron and calcium ions and anticorrosives for metals.
However, it has not been reported to date that phytic acid and its salts may be effective for a lowering of blood sugar and be used as preventives and remedies for arteriosclerosis that is a diabetic complication.